Once in a lifetime a story will change your heart

and your perspective...

John Jenkins, a young journalist, is marking off time at the small-town Marquette Messenger until he can get into the big-league newspapers. After all, nothing significant ever happens in a farming community, he thinks.

Then one day Jenkins is given a routine, dull assignment—to write the obituary of an elderly local farmer, Alfred Gutzman. The remarkable untold story Jenkins uncovers through his investigation, happenstance encounters with people who knew Gutzman, and covert visits to his farm, challenge everything the young reporter holds dear...

A poignant glimpse of the heart wounds of WWII vets

on both sides of the line

TIM SPITZACK is editor and publisher of a newspaper publishing company in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has a B.S. degree in Journalism and Sociology and over twenty years' experience working in community journalism.

"There's a popular phrase in community journalism that says there are no bad stories, only bad writers. What this means is that there are a multitude of interesting stories about our fellow citizens to discover if we are willing to scratch below the surface. I wrote The Messenger to pay tribute to the people who live quiet lives, but through their acts of love and compassion influence the lives of so many others."

Tim Spitzack

Thursday, August 5th, 7:00pm